Marion County RECORD

BREAKING NEWS

With impending winter weather coming into the Kansas area over the weekend, Peabody American Legion Auxiliary decided to postpone their “senior prom” dance.
The dance, featuring The Clearview Band of Herington, will now be 8 p.m. to midnight Jan. 21 at the Peabody American Legion.

With a bright smile and a big heart, 7-year-old Caileigh Johnson of Marion may be just as sweet as the cupcakes she bakes to benefit Eyeruse, an impoverished 6-year-old girl from Ethiopia.
“

After a brush with Marion police raised questions about officer conduct, 22-year-old Atchison man Kodi Goodpasture and a group of young people he was with in or around a Marion home Dec. 31 can breathe a collective sigh of relief.
And while police have not confirmed rumors about what happened, some police culpability now seems to have been acknowledged.

A Saturday event at Peabody will put new meaning into the phrase “senior prom.”
A seniors prom at the American Legion will be for anyone 21 and over. It is being organized by members of the American Legion Auxiliary.

A fire of undetermined origin caused extensive damage Tuesday to a rural Peabody home whose occupants had to be alerted to the blaze by passing motorists.
The home, on Indigo Rd. between 80th and 90th Rds., is owned by Eric and Clarissa Dutton.

Before leaving St. Luke Hospital at the end of work each day, CEO Jeremy Ensey strolls down the hall to the Living Center to visit his grandma.
Former physician T.C. Ensey and his wife, Lila, are residents at Marion Assisted Living, but when Lila recently needed a higher level of care, she transferred to the Living Center.

Santa Fe Trail enthusiasts are concerned that a new wind farm proposed for northern Marion County could damage sections of the trail that runs through the county.
“We realize a wind tower is a benefit to the landowner,” said Steve Schmidt, president of the Cottonwood Crossing Chapter of the Santa Fe Trail Association. “We are just looking for a balance.”

A Hutchinson man died at 12:40 p.m. Sunday when his car slid underneath a railroad crossing arm and was struck by a train on K-15 at Durham.
Nathan Parson, 29, was driving a 1990 Geo south through Durham. Short skid marks and witness statements indicated Parson was attempting to stop when the car went under the cross arm and onto the tracks, Sheriff Robert Craft said.

However, he said , no arrests had been made as of Monday.

County commissioner Lori Lalouette, who customarily would be appointed commission chairman for the third year of her term, was passed over at Monday’s meeting in favor of Randy Dallke continuing as chair and newly elected commissioner Dianne Novak as vice-chair.
After a swearing-in ceremony in the courtroom for all newly elected and re-elected county officials, 12 onlookers crowded into the commission chamber to see what happened.

If a county commission seat becomes vacant by resignation or recall election, Kansas Election Standards prescribe that the political party of a commissioner who vacates a seat gets to nominate a replacement for appointment by the governor.
When the county election clerk notifies the county party chairman of a vacancy, a party convention of precinct committeemen and committeewomen from the commission district must be held within 21 days.

Retired music teacher and Marion native Maurine Alice Graham, 97, Winfield, died Thursday.
Born May 4, 1919, to Emory and Hazel (Logan) Hawbecker in Marion, she graduated from Kansas State Teachers College in 1941 and did post-graduate work in Chicago and Greeley, Colorado.

Ambulance office assistant Jeanne M. Martanovic, 52,died after a long battle with cancer Thursday at Via Christi Hospital on St. Francis in Wichita.
She was born Oct. 24, 1964, in Alexandria, Virginia, and owned an interior design painting company before moving to Kansas. Most recently, she was an office assistant with Marion County Emergency Medical Services. She was member of the Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church, Wichita, where she sang in the choir.

Cattlemen are looking to 2017 with cautious optimism.
Declining calf and feed prices and rising prices for slaughter cattle create a mixed outlook. Some cattlemen look to make better profits, and others will have to manage well so as not to lose money.

David Rudolph of Lincolnville has raised pigs since he was in high school.
The 43-year-old farmer has 15 sows, down from a high of 75 about 10 years ago.

A new year brings new crops and a fresh start, but Marion County extension agent Ricky Roberts predicts 2017 won’t be any easier than last year.
“I just don’t know what the future is going to hold,” Roberts said. “I don’t know for prices, yields, anything, but what I have of the information at my ends today suggests to me that the farm economy is still going to be difficult.”

Just west of US-56/77 and 250th Rd., a stoic concrete silo stands straight and true more than 100 years after it was constructed.
Unlike many cement silos with “staves” or bands of metal for support, this silo required no exterior supports. Reinforcement is built into the concrete, and the lower eight feet are lined inside with red brick.

From all the comments coming out of county commission meetings and coffeehouse courts of public opinion, you might think that embattled 1st District commissioner Lori Lalouette is the direct descendant of Al-Queda chief Osama Bin Laden — or, perhaps, Richard Nixon at the height of his unpopularity in 1974.
Truth is, despite missing an unusually large number of meetings, Lalouette has at times been a refreshingly valuable member of the commission, often burning midnight oil doing the type of thorough and thoughful research that hasn’t exactly been a hallmark of county commissioners over the years.

Jerry mentioned all of the interesting things the man has done in his life as opposed to himself, who has been a farmer living in one community all of his life.
To my surprise, the serviceman stretched out his arm, shook my husband’s hand, and said, “Thank you for your service.”

Coloring isn’t just for kids anymore.
The Marion City Library once again is planning two hours of “coloring, cookies, and conversation” event from 1 to 3 p.m. Jan. 20 at the library.

Collecting enough blood to win a scholarship for a graduating senior will be the goal of a Marion High School Key Club blood drive next week.
It will be sponsor Lori McLinden’s sixth blood drive, this time with a goal of collecting 81 units of blood.

More than two dozen members of Shirley Bowers’ family celebrated Christmas with a day of visiting and snacks and a soup dinner Dec. 31 at Eastmoor United Methodist Church.
Attending were:

Zane Anthony Stone, grandson of Mike and Alicia Stone of Marion, was the first baby of the new year at McPherson Hospital. Zane was born at 2:02 p.m. Jan. 7 to Sydney and Michael Stone.
His maternal grandparents are Lonnie and Karen Graves of Minneapolis and Rachel Graves of Abilene.

The children of former Burns resident Carolyn Holm have requested a card shower in honor of her 80th birthday Tuesday.
Cards can be sent to 8706 Scragg St, Wichita KS 67226.

MEMORIES:

SENIOR CENTER:

USD 408’s search for a new superintendent was the primary focus of school board members during Monday’s meeting.
Doug Moeckel, executive director of the Kansas Association of School Boards, told board members that community members suggested integrity and good communications with others were characteristics most important to them in a new superintendent.

Centre’s Kansas Online Learning Program, now is in its seventh year, has benefited the district’s traditional classes, coordinator Vickie Jirak told the Centre school board Monday.
“When I went through the numbers, I was on a natural high,” she said. “Virtual has paid for itself and helped our brick and mortar.”

Their games unfolded in different ways, but at the end of the night Friday, Marion’s boys and girls picked up victories against visiting Ell-Saline.
Collective heroics and a little trickery on defense won out in a nip and tuck battle for the boys, as they escaped with a 56-54 come from behind win.

Centre basketball teams started the new year like they ended the old year, with victories.
Both teams defeated new league member Herington on Friday at home.

A pair of Warriors placed in the top part of their weight brackets, and the team placed seventh Friday at a “really tough” Norton wrestling tournament.
Tyler Palic placed second at 195 pounds, and Bryce Shults placed fourth at 138 pounds.

Reservations are due Monday for St. Luke Hospital Auxiliary’s annual meeting and dinner at 6:30 p.m. Jan. 19 at Marion Community Center.
Anita Hancock will perform harp music. Cost is $12.50 per person. Reservations are being accepted by calling Mary Griffith at (620) 382-6589.